CNN reports that Flight AH 5017 left Ougadougou at 00:45 local time on Thursday (8:45 p.m. Wednesday EDT) and was scheduled to arrive at Algiers' Houari Boumediene Airport at 5:40 a.m. local time (12:40 a.m. Thursday EDT). The plane had been missing for hours before its disappearance became public.

The crewmembers, two pilots and four in the cabin, are Spanish nationals while reports suggest that multiple nationalities were on the flight.